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It's easier to be known for being a good programmer if people can read your code, so if you make a list of good programmers you should expect open-source people
by gjm11 13y ago
It's easier to be known for being a good programmer if people can read your code, so if you make a list of good programmers you should expect open-source people to be overrepresented.
A few people off the top of my head who are noted for being good programmers but whose code is I think mostly not publicly available: Peter Norvig (though I doubt he's writing much code nowadays), Paul Graham, Sophie Wilson, Charles Simonyi (though it'll be a while before he's forgiven for "Hungarian notation").
(I should add in the interests of fairness that while I was typing that list my brain was angrily trying to remind me of Jamie Zawinski and Don Knuth, both of whom are much more open-source types.)
- conductor 13y ago> It's easier to be known for being a good programmer if people can read your code Yes, that was my point, I don't say there are no good closed source programmers, just it's much easier to be known/respected as a good programmer by writing free software.
- abecedarius 13y agoNorvig and Graham both wrote books full of code, with either the book or the code freely available, and AFAIK their books first made their reputations. I'm sure your point is correct that open-source people are overrepresented, those just aren't optimal counterexamples.